A group of aliens are in a forest on Earth, not far from a suburb, exploring and collecting plant samples. They are forced to leave in a hurry when alien-seeking scientists arrive on the scene, and one of them is not on the ship when it takes off...

Down in that suburb live Elliott, his older brother Michael, and his little sister Gertrude, the products of a broken home with an overworked mom named Mary (the dad is absent). Over the course of a few days, lonely Elliott encounters the stranded alien and lures it to his house with Reese's Pieces, offering it shelter and naming it E.T.

E.T. learns English — if only a few words — through the kids and especially television, and finally is able to tell them what he wants: to "phone home." Elliott helps him rig up a telephone-like device from such things as a Speak-and-Spell to attempt to transmit a message to his planet. But as they wait for a response, E.T. gradually sickens — as does Elliott, because the alien has developed a psychic bond with him. The government scientists catch up with E.T., and soon all seems lost for the poor little guy. It will take The Power of Love and a daring escape to set things right...

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial provides examples of:

Adult Fear: Mary's is justified since at least in her point of view: her son gets sick, misbehaves in school and goes missing on Halloween. She then ends up seeing a creature, that she never thought would exist and that in her mindset may have done something to harm her child. Just as she was about to get her kids away from the house, a bunch of men in strange suits end up trapping her in her own home. Said men tell her that her son might die.

All There in the Manual: E.T.'s backstory. He's a member of a low grade Hive Mind, essentially a sentient drone: In some ways his intelligence is very simple and childlike, in others, very sophisticated, as befitting field crew. When he is cut off from his group mind, his body, not equipped to handle isolation, begins to break down, hastened by Earth's very high gravity. His telepathic bond with Elliott slows the process, but also makes him an accidental Power Parasite, draining Elliott. When his ship gets in range, he automatically reconnects with the network, which immediately halts the decay and heals him.

Badass Adorable: Elliott successfully lures E.T. into his room with Reese's Pieces, even camping outside to wait for him, despite the real possibility that E.T. might be dangerous. Then at the end, he pulls off the entire escape plan to get E.T. back to his ship.

Big "NO!"/Please Don't Leave Me: When Michael wakes up and sees the flower that E.T. has revived begin to die again, he shouts out a Big "NO!", which is cued up in synch to Elliott's scream of "E.T., DON'T GOOOO!!!", right before E.T. flatlines.

Bizarre Alien Biology: Background dialogue from the doctors (see Cast the Expert) indicates that E.T.'s DNA uses six bases instead of four. (This could explain why he got sick: he became malnourished from eating Earth food.)

Bleep Dammit: When Michael returns home during Elliot and E.T.'s first day together and looks into the fridge, he sings to himself, "Nothin' but health shit..." The "shit" is silenced out in the 20th anniversary version, but every other utterance of the word was left untouched.

Bowdlerise: For the 2002 special edition, the guns of the cops at the end of the film were digitally replaced by CGI walkie-talkies (Spielberg, now a father himself, felt the shotguns could have been too frightening for his children) and a line spoken by Mary commenting about Michael's Halloween costume had the word "terrorist" changed to "hippie." When the film eventually was released on DVD, the initial run saw both the 2002 release and the original theatrical cut packaged together in one set.

Some sources say it was Drew Barrymore who asked for the guns to be edited out.

Everytown, America: While the town Elliot live in is never mentioned, he points to Northern California on a map when showing E.T. where they live. (The actual house is in the L.A. neighborhood of Tujunga at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.)

The Faceless: With the exception of Elliot's mother, the audience doesn't see the faces of any adults until the final third of the movie, playing up the film's perspective from a child's POV.

Gadgeteer Genius: E.T., surprisingly, considering he's a botanist: He builds a wind-operated emergency beacon, transmitting in his own language, out of common household items (and a Speak and Spell). What's more, his ship hears his transmission and comes back for him!

Hero Antagonist: Keys and the rest of the agents may consider this. It's no crime for the Secret Service to investigate a possible alien invader who could be dangerous for the society. E.T. is actually peaceful but they don't know.

Hero of Another Story: Something must have happened to Keys to get him interested in aliens, since he's been waiting for something like E.T. to appear since he was 10.

Humans Are Morons: Averted. Not only do humans heal him and help send him home but there are many moments in which E.T. seems less intelligent than humans, despite coming from a more advanced race, such as when he becomes fascinated with a can of pencils, only to run screaming when they tip over.

Meaningful Echo: Because E.T. parrots what others say, there are a good deal of these by the end, such as "I'll be right here."

Messianic Archetype: E.T., right down to the resurrection and the Michelangelo touching of fingers between man and the Divine. So blatant was the parable it was spoofed on The Simpsons:

Rev. Lovejoy: I remember another gentle visitor from the heavens, he came in peace and then died, only to come back to life, and his name was... E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial. (cries) I loved that little guy.

Spielberg himself has said he never intended the film to be interpreted as a religious fable, and has himself joked about it.

No Name Given: The scientist tracking E.T. begins the film as a nameless, faceless figure distinguished by the bunch of keys hanging from his belt; later in the film, when he becomes a more sympathetic figure, his face is shown, but his name is never revealed. In the end credits he is listed as "Keys".

E.T. qualifies as well since E.T. is the nickname Elliott gave him. Justified in the fact E.T. knows limited English and we never see him interact with any of his species. (In the sequel novel, The Book of the Green Planet, even after E.T. returns to his home planet the narration always calls him "E.T." His own people are only ever seen referring to him as "The Doctor of Botany".)

Obvious Stunt Double: During the bike chase, as this image shows◊, 10-year old Elliot's stunt double is a full grown man. Having the teenagers' stunt doubles as taller-than-average men did not make this much less obvious.

Oh Crap!: The scientist attempting to scramble back into the moving van, as Elliott pulls out the last peg of an attached walkway.

Playing Sick: Elliot fakes a fever, going so far as to hold a thermometer to a light bulb, in order to spend the day with E.T.

Power Walk: The government agents do this as they head for Elliot's home.

Product Placement: Perhaps the definitive example of the trope in the just-introduced Reese's Pieces, which saw a successful launch in large part thanks to this film.

While M&M/Mars kicked themselves for turning down the offer to use M&Ms. Oops.

Speak and Spell also gained additional admiration thanks to this film.

Reaction Shot: Reaction shots of the boys' faces when they land their bikes coming down from the sky.

Reasonable Authority Figure: The police and government agents are the villains of the film, but even then they are very reasonable, never actively trying to harm the children when they find out and even giving Elliott time to grieve after ET dies. This is particularly true of Keys, who gently talks to Elliott to try and figure out what's wrong with E.T., while telling him that E.T.'s presence on Earth is a miracle.

Repeat Cut: Spielberg uses this effect for repeated shots of Elliott screaming his head off after his first face-to-face encounter with E.T.

The Rival: The Thing was this to E.T., one of the reasons it didn't get any notice until VHS and cable, was because many people watching E.T. didn't like the idea of an evil alien.

Rule of Drama: When they finally close off the house, the government agents can't simply walk in and announce their presence via megaphone to remain calm as they enter. No, they have to silently come in the doors and stand at the windows holding out their arms menacingly.

Two to buddy George Lucas' Star Wars franchise: Elliott shows E.T. some of his action figures, and one of the trick-or-treaters is dressed as Yoda. (Notably, E.T. appears to recognize Yoda. Perhaps he's just happy to see someone who isn't freakishly tall and smooth-skinned, but then...) John Williams even sneaks "Yoda's Theme" from The Empire Strikes Back into the score at that moment.

Also, when the government agents invade Elliot's house, the astronauts get a well known breath.

Tomboy: Gertie. She wears a baseball cap and for Halloween she likes go as a cowgirl. Funnily enough she screams in a familiar high pitched feminine scream.

They Would Cut You Up: Elliot is understandably afraid that something like this will happen to E.T. if any grownups find out about him. He doesn't even trust his mother. And the government is indeed looking for him, but we never do find out what they had in mind because he's terminally ill when they find him and curing his condition becomes priority #1.

And then when that fails, this turns into Alien Autopsy, as Elliot assumes this is what they plan to do with his body and says so to their faces. This, too, ends up being something we fortunately never get to find out.

This Is Reality: Elliot's response when one of Michael's friends suggests that E.T. could "beam up".

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